Categoria: Lao Tzu
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Tao Te Ching IX
Stretch a bow to the very full, And you will wish you had stopped in time; Temper a sword-edge to its very sharpest, And you will find it soon grows dull. When bronze and jade fill your hall. It can no longer be guarded. Wealth and place breed insolence. That brings ruin in its train.…
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Tao Te Ching LXIX
The strategists have the sayings: “When you doubt your ability to meet the enemy’s attack, Take the offensive yourself” And “If you doubt your ability to advance an inch, then retreat a foot”. This latter is what we call to march without moving, To roll the sleeve, but present no bare arm, The hand that…
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Tao Te Ching LXXXI
True words are not fine-sounding; Fine-sounding words are not true. The good man does not prove by argument; The he who proves by argument is not good. True wisdom is different from much learning; Much learning means little wisdom. The Sage has no need to hoard; When his own last scrap has been used up…
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Tao Te Ching XLIX
The Sage has no heart of his own; He uses the heart of the people as his heart. Of the good man I approve, But of the bad I also approve, And thus he gets goodness. The truthful man I believe, but the liar I also believe, And thus he gets truthfulness. The Sage, in…
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Tao Te Ching XXVII
Perfect activity leaves no track behind it; Perfect speech is like a jade-worker whose tool leaves no mark. The perfect reckoner needs no counting-slips; The perfect door has neither bolt nor bar, Yet cannot be opened. The perfect knot needs neither rope nor twine, Yet cannot be united. Therefore the Sage Is all the time…
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Tao Te Ching L
He who aims at life achieves death. If the “companions of life” are thirteen, So likewise are the “companions of death” thirteen. How is it that the “death-stops” in man’s life And activity are also thirteen? It is because men feed life too grossly. It is said that he who has a true hold on…
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Tao Te Ching LXV
In the days of old those who practiced Tao with success did not, By means of it, Enlighten the people, but on the contrary sought to make them ignorant. The more knowledge people have, the harder they are to rule. Those who seek to rule by giving knowledge Are like bandits preying on the land.…
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Tao Te Ching V
Heaven and Earth are ruthless; To them the Ten Thousand things are but as straw dogs1. The Sage too is ruthless; To him the people are but as straw dogs. Yet Heaven and Earth and all that lies between Is like a bellows In that it is empty, but gives a supply that never fails.…
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Tao Te Ching XLV
What is most perfect seems to have something missing; Yet its use is unimpaired. What is most full seems empty; Yet its use will never fail. What is most straight seems crooked; The greatest skill seems like clumsiness, The greatest eloquence like stuttering. Movement overcomes cold; But staying still overcomes heat. So he by his…
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Tao Te Ching XXVIII
“He who knows the males, yet cleaves to what is female Because like a ravine, receiving all things under heaven,” And being such a ravine He knows all the time a power that he never calls upon in vain. This is returning to the state of infancy. He who knows the white, (yet cleaves to…
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Tao Te Ching LI
Tao gave them birth; The “power” of Tao reared them, Shaped them according to their kinds, Perfected them, giving to each its strength. Therefore Of the ten thousand things there is not one that does not worship Tao And do homage to its “power”. No mandate ever went forth that accorded to Tao the right…
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Tao Te Ching LXVI
How did the great rivers and seas get their kingship Over the hundred lesser streams? Through the merit of being lower than they; That was how they got their kingship. Therefore the Sage In order to be above the people Must speak as though he were lower than the people. In order to guide them…
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Tao Te Ching VI
The Valley Spirit never dies. It is named the Mysterious Female. And the doorway of the Mysterious Female Is the base from which Heaven and Earth sprang. It is there within us all the while; Draw upon it as you will, it never runs dry. A. La puissance expansive transcendante qui réside dans l’espace médian,…
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Tao Te Ching XLVI
When there is Tao in the empire The galloping steeds are turned back to fertilize the ground by their droppings. When there is not Tao in the empire War horses will be reared even on the sacred mounds below the city walls. (No lure is greater than to possess what others want,) No disaster greater…
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Tao Te Ching XXX
He who by Tao purposes to help a ruler of men Will oppose all conquest by force of arms; For such things are wont to rebound. Where armies are, thorn and brambles grow. The raising of a great host Is followed by a year of dearth. Therefore a good general effects his purpose and then…
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Tao Te Ching LII
That which was the beginning of all things under heaven We may speak of as the “mother” of all things. He who apprehends the mother Thereby knows the sons. And he who has known the sons, Will hold all the tighter to the mother, And to the end of his days suffer no harm; “Block…
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Tao Te Ching LXVII
Every one under heaven says that our Way is greatly like folly. But it is just because it is great, that it seems like folly. As for things that do not seem like folly — well, There can be no question about their smallness! Here are my three treasures. Guard and keep them! The first…
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Tao Te Ching VII
Heaven is eternal, the Earth everlasting. How come they to be so? It is because they do not foster their own lives; That is why they live so long. Therefore the Sage Puts himself in the background; but is always to the fore. Remains outside; but is always there. Is it not just because he…
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Tao Te Ching XLVII
Without leaving his door He knows everything under heaven. Without looking out of his window He knows all the ways of heaven. For the further one travels The less one knows. Therefore the Sage arrives without going, Sees all without looking, Does nothing, yet achieves everything. A. Sans sortir par la porte, on peut connaître…
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Tao Te Ching XXXI
Fine weapons are none the less ill-omened things. (People despise them, therefore, Those in possession of the Tao do not depend on them.) That is why, among people of good birth, In peace the left-hand side is the place of honour, But in war this is reversed and the right-hand side is the place of…